


Guided through the gate

by Relina



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2019-09-19 18:44:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17007129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Relina/pseuds/Relina
Summary: Essentially a retelling of undertale.You wake in the world of undertale. You don't seem to remember anything. Or do you?As you walk through the world and meet the monsters inhabiting it, you seem to remember something. Is it something good? Something bad? Only time will tell.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is not complete. I'll endeavor to at least go through the entire undertale storyline, but the plan is to make this pretty long.  
> Some parts of the story might seem as if taken directly from the game, especially some the dialog. Some things might seem not exactly right, that might be on purpose, or perhaps it's just my memory failing me... I'm going to try and put my own spin on things, but obviously I'm drawing from the canon storyline.  
> We shall see where it goes.

It’s dark. You don’t know where you are. Someone is calling your name. 

"..."

  


You wake up. You’re lying in a bed of yellow flowers. High above you light is streaming in from a hole in the ceiling. You feel sore, but not near enough to have fallen from such a height.

What do you do?

=>Sit up

  


You sit up.

You’re wearing a blue sweater with two purple stripes. You think you’ve seen it somewhere before. You’re in a cave. Except for the light coming in above, darkness reigns.

What do you do?

=>Stand up

  


You get to your feet.

You’re wearing boots and your hairs sways in your field of vision. It’s brown. You don’t remember whether that’s normal or not. You look around. The cave part you’re in is not very big. It gives way to a path leading into the darkness.

What do you do?

=>Follow the path

  


You hesitate a moment, peering into the darkness cautiously. Then you walk into it and follow the path.

At the end of the path is a doorway.

What do you do?

=>Enter the doorway

  


You approach the doorway. It is several heads taller than you are. You don’t remember if you’re tall or if you’re small, but you do know that no human is that tall.

You tell yourself the doorway was made that way for effect. You have the weird feeling that that’s wrong.

You enter the doorway. It is a room. In the middle of the room sits some grass and a single yellow flower. The flower turns to you and somehow you’re not that surprised that it has a face. The face is smiling at you.

“Howdy!” it says. “I’m Flowey, Flowey the flower!”

Its smile somehow grows bigger when it sees you hesitating.

=>Greet him

  


You frown. Somehow you’ve got a nagging suspicion about the flower, but you can’t say what. You greet the flower. The flower seems delighted. 

“You must be new here!” it exclaims cheerfully. “I can help you out!” You want to say no, but accept the help.

“This is the Underground!” the flower says, and somehow you already knew that. It does… something, and suddenly you feel warmth in your chest. It grows until something pops out. A bright red cartoon heart is floating in front of you.

“That’s your soul, the culmination of your being!” the flower explains and you continue to ignore that once again you somehow already knew that. 

“It’s weak right now, but it can grow stronger!” The flower gives a sly smile that you don’t trust.

“Getting stronger is easy” the flower says as small white… things start appearing next to it, floating. 

“You just need to gain LOVE” the flower tilts its head, “You can share LOVE through small white “friendliness pellets””. 

The white objects start spinning a little bit. “Just let the friendliness pellets hit your soul” the flower says as the objects start moving towards you.

What do you do? 

=>Dodge

  


As the pellets approach your soul you move out of the way. The flower looks disgruntled. 

“I don’t think you quite understand.” The flower says with a strained smile. “If you don’t let the pellet hit your soul, you won’t gain any LOVE.” 

More objects appear.

“SO just stand still this time, okay?” The pellets move towards you faster than last time. 

What do you do? 

=>Dodge 

  


You dodge the pellets again. The flower is sneering. Then it appears to make an effort to smile cheerily at you. 

“Let’s try this again!” it said, voice an approximation of cheerful. “You should try harder this time! Get as many as you can!”

The pellets shoot towards you.

What do you do?

=>Dodge!

  


You dodge the pellets again. The flower looks ticked off and its face suddenly isn’t so cheerful anymore. It actually looks demonic for a second as it screeches at you. 

“RUN INTO THE DAMN BULLETS YOU USELESS-“, it stops itself as if realizing what it just said. It stares balefully at you. 

“Oh I see how it is” it says fuming, “you know what this is about, don’t you?” You feel confused. 

“Tch,” it grits. You’re suddenly sort of worried. “FINE.” The flower says smiling demonically. “Then let’s not play pretend!” Tons of tiny white bullets start appearing. “Then you can just hand over your soul right now!” The flower starts laughing as the bullets surround you with no way out. 

“You’re so stupid!” it says between laughs, “in this world it’s KILL OR BE KILLED!” The bullets get closer and closer. 

What do you do?

=>Call for help

  


You can’t muster a strong voice, but you call for help anyway. 

The flower stops laughing at you to sneer patronizingly in your direction. 

“Can you get any stupider?” it says rolling its eyes. “No one is coming to he-“; a fireball comes out of nowhere and punts the flower in its face. It goes flying. You stare. 

“What a miserable creature. Tormenting such a poor, innocent youth.” a feminine voice comments out of the darkness. 

Someone steps out of the darkness. They’re very tall. They’re wearing a purple dress. 

What do you do? 

=>Greet Toriel 

  


You don’t know their name yet, but you greet them anyway, thanking them for helping you. They smile a very motherly smile. 

“It was no trouble. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I come here periodically to check if someone has fallen.” Toriel steps closer. “Are you quite alright? You are not hurt, I hope?” You nod and tell Toriel that you’re unhurt. Toriel smiles happily. Then their face clouds a little. 

“The Ruins are a little dangerous for a child. I will lead you to safety.” Toriel offers you their hand. 

What do you do? 

=>Take her hand 

  


You take her hand. Toriel seems pleased. 

She leads you into the next room. It is much bigger than the one before. She lets go of your hand and steps forward, seemingly waiting for you to follow. Ahead of you are two stairs leading up and combining. 

What do you do? 

=>SAVE 

  


You suddenly notice a slightly pulsing yellow star. You know it has something to do with SAVING. It floats between the two stairs. 

You follow Toriel a little, but instead of going up the stairs with her, you step over to the star. You touch it. It feels warm and pulses a little in your hand. It fills you with DETERMINATION. 

“Child?” Toriel’s voice startles you a little. You look up to see her waiting for you on top of the stairs. You hurry up after her. 

Together you enter the next room. It is smaller and more compact. The room is not much bigger than the one with the flower. There’s a door on the other side. On the wall the left of it is a plaque of some sort. On the ground to the right of the door are six buttons in a pattern. There’s a path worn down in the middle of the pattern.

“In the Ruins there are many puzzles and traps meant to slow down an intruder.” Toriel explains. Then she walks over to the buttons and presses the ones outside of the path. The door opens. Toriel walks into the next room. 

What do you do?

=>Follow Toriel

  


You go to follow Toriel, but notice the plaque on the way. Making sure Toriel is near; you go and read the sign. 

“Only the fearless may proceed. Brave ones, foolish ones. Both not walk the middle road.” You surmise that it’s the solution to the puzzle. Then you go after Toriel, feeling as if you should feel like you shouldn’t waste your time reading things you already know. You just end up feeling confused.

You step into a long room. Toriel smiles kindly at you.

“You can solve this one, child.” She starts walking. Then she pauses and glances back at you. You give her your best puppy eyes. She seems to soften.

“If you need assistance I will be right over there.” She says and points to the end of the room, where the exit seems to be barred by spikes. You nod. She walks to where she pointed.

What do you do?

=>Solve puzzle

  


You examine the room. There’s a sign in the floor in front of you. Behind the sign, over on the wall, hangs another plaque. Trisecting the room on your right are two rivers with bridges over them. On the wall between and beyond the rivers are three levers. Obviously the levers are the puzzle. 

Instead of heading over there immediately, you take a step forward to read the sign. 

“Reading signs are a good way to gain information.” You tilt your head in confusion. The confusion is almost double. You somehow know the sign was supposed to say something else.

Next you walk over to the plaque. “Stay on the path.” From what you’ve learned of plaques, this is the solution to the puzzle.

You walk back to the path. You follow the path over the bridge. The path splits there and leads to a lever. You walk to the lever.

It’s a simple lever.

You feel like somethings missing. You look over at Toriel. She sees you looking and gives you a thumb up. You pull the lever.

Nothing happens. You don’t feel surprised.

You walk back to the main path and follow it to the other side of bridge number two. The path splits again. You follow it to another lever. It’s still a simple lever. You frown. Then you look at Toriel, who is looking at you. She smiles.

You see there’s another lever on the wall. This one doesn’t have a path leading to it. You move you hand towards it, watching Toriel. She frowns. You move your hand back to the first lever. She smiles. You don’t want to push it, so you pull it instead.

A noise sounds as the spikes disappear. You walk over to Toriel who congratulates you on solving the puzzle. She then goes into the next room.

What do you do?

=>Follow Toriel

  


You follow Toriel into the next room. It is quite small. A path leads to a door, but before it is cleared area. There stands a dummy. 

Toriel is standing next to the dummy. She smiles in greeting.

“I will now teach you how to react if someone attacks you.” She says and nods to the dummy. You go stand in front of it.

“The process is simple.” She explains, “When you encounter a monster, a fight may be initiated. All you must do is strike up a friendly conversation. You must stall. I will come to resolve the conflict.” She then gestures to the dummy.

“You can practice by talking to the dummy.”

What do you do?

=>Enter fight

  


You concentrate on the dummy. A sudden blackness envelopes you. Only you and the dummy remain.

Four large glowing buttons are in front of you. The left most has a knife and the word FIGTH inscribed. The one next to it has a few lines and the word ACT. Then one with a bag and the word ITEM. The last button has an X in front of the word MERCY.

What do you do?

=>ACT

  


You press the button with the word ACT. A new menu appears. You have the choice between CHECK and TALK.

You press CHECK. The dummy’s STATS appear.

DUMMY – ATK 0 DEF 0  
A cotton heart and a button eye.  
You are the apple of my eye.

You feel as if a turn was used. The dummy doesn’t say or do anything.

What do you do?

=>ACT

  


You press ACT again, this time choosing the option of TALK. You talk to the dummy. It doesn’t say or do anything, but you get the feeling it’s not much for conversation.

The FIGHT ends. You are told you receive 0 EXP and 0 gold. The darkness disappears as if it were never there. You feel as if something is weird. Why did this not happen with the flower?

Toriel seems pleased with you. “You are a good child.” She tells you. You feel flattered. She goes into the next room.

What do you do?

=>Follow Toriel

  


You follow Toriel into the next room.

There’s a very clear path winding its way through it, leading to a hallway. You follow Toriel over to the hallway. You glance back feeling as if something is going to happen.

When you turn back, Toriel is further along than you thought and a frog looking creature jumps at you. You dodge. A sudden darkness envelopes you and the frog.

Froggit attacks you!

The menu appears with its four buttons.

What do you do?

=>ACT

  


You press ACT. You can choose between CHECK, COMPLIMENT and THREAT.

You choose CHECK. Froggit’s STATS appear.

FROGGIT – ATK 4 DEF 5  
Life is difficult for this enemy.

A turn was used. Before the Froggit even starts its turn Toriel sidles into the darkness. She looks at the Froggit with a pinched look on her face. The Froggit looks ashamed and hops away, the FIGHT ending. You’re told you won and that you’ve gained 0 EXP and 0 gold. The darkness disappears.

Toriel is staring after the Froggit. You tug her sleeve. She looks down at you and her face softens. She pats your head. Then you both proceed.

A large plaque hangs on the wall. On the way past, you read it. “The western room is the eastern room’s blueprint.” You figure the path has something to do with it.

You come into the room. The room’s floor is filled with sharp looking spikes. Toriel has stopped next to it. She looks worriedly at the spikes. She then looks at you. Back to the spikes. Then she looks down at you and seems to come to a decision.

“This is the puzzle, but...” she once again looks at the spikes. “I believe it would be best if I helped out this one time.” She holds out her hand.

What do you do?

=>Take her hand

  


You take Toriel’s hand. She smiles and leads you to the spikes. You trust her.

She leads you out onto the spikes and as her feet approach, the spikes retract into the floor beneath. You follow her on an elaborate path through the room. The other side is reached. Toriel lets go of your hand. She looks hesitant.

“Perhaps puzzles are too dangerous for you for now…” she walks into the next room.

What do you do?

=>Follow Toriel

  


The next room is darker than the others. It seems to be longer as well and you cannot see the end for the darkness. Toriel waits for you. She seems almost sad. 

“You have done incredibly well, my child. I have a request of you.” You notice that she said “my” child and is filled with warmth. You smile at her. She seems even more down. “

I would like you to walk to the end of the room by yourself.” She then hurries into the dark, leaving you alone. Everything seems bleaker.

What do you do?

=>Go through room

  


You cautiously move into the dark. Your steps echo. 

Something tells you everything is fine. You are still uncomfortable. You don’t understand what is going on. You’re in an underground place with creatures you somehow recognize, yet don’t recognize. There’s the possibility of getting hurt. And the whole “no memory” thing is also adding to the tension.

You stop. You look behind you. There’s nothing but darkness. You can’t see the door you entered through anymore. You hug yourself. A shiver you didn’t notice, stops. You feel better. You feel somehow thankful and begin walking again.

You begin to be able to see the end of the room. A pillar stands to the left. The sight of it makes you feel good. As soon as you pass it Toriel steps out from behind it. You are happy to see her.

“Hello, my child.” She greets you. “As you can see, I did not actually leave you. I was behind this the whole time.” She steps closer.

“Thank you for trusting me.” She looks incredibly soft. You smile at her. She smiles back.

“I had you do this for a reason.” She explains. “It was to test your independence.” She looks to the side. “I have business I must attend to and therefore I must leave you alone for a while.” She looks at you again.

“Please remain here. It is dangerous to go by yourself.” She has a stern look on her face. Then she looks as if she has an idea.

“I know, I will give you a cell phone, that way if you need anything you can just call.” She takes out a telephone and hands it to you. It is a lot bigger than you’d have thought it would be.

“Be good.” She tells you and leaves.

What do you do?

=>Call Toriel

  


You examine the giant phone. You choose the option to CALL. The only option now is TORIEL. You press it. 

The phone starts making dial noises. Then a click is heard.

“Hello, my child.” You smile at hearing Toriel’s voice through the phone. “Was there something you wanted?” you ponder a moment, seeing as you didn’t have a plan.

Then you tell her you wanted to say hello. You can hear her smiling as she answers. “Well then “hello”, my child.” You giggle into the receiver. “Then if that was all?” you give her an affirmative. You both hang up.

What do you do?

=>Call Toriel

  


You shrug and make the phone call Toriel once more. “My child?” she questions. You hum into the receiver. Then you say you just wanted to say hello again. She laughs and tells you “hello” again. You both hang up. 

What do you do?

=>Call Toriel

  


You dial up Toriel. “Once again “hello”, my child” she tells you, sounding amused. You ask her about herself. 

“Me?” she questions confusedly, “well there’s not much to tell, I am just a silly old lady…” she says self depreciatingly.

You tell her you think she is great. She sounds flattered. You both hang up. What do you do?

=>Call Toriel 

  


You call Toriel again. She answers. You’re glad she doesn’t sound annoyed. Then you ask her if it would be alright if you called her “mom”. She goes quiet on the other side.

You don’t know why you said that. You bite your lip. You’re ready to apologize and take it back when you hear her inhale on the other end.

“Of course” she says, sounding choked up. “Of course you can call me “mother” if you want to, my child”

You are so very happy. You haven’t ruined anything and now Toriel is your mother. You thank her in a quiet voice. You both stay on the phone for a while. Then you both hang up.

What do you do?

=> Call Toriel

  


You stare into the wall deadpan. You refuse. You don’t want to be a bother. 

You look around you. There is only a pillar in the room. You look behind it. There isn’t anything. You don’t know what you expected. Then you march into the center of the path and sit down, giant phone in your arms. You look down on it. You don’t look forward to walking around with it.

What do you do?

=>Call Toriel

  


What’s that? Nothing? Yeah that’s what you figured. 

What do you do?

=>Put away phone

  


You stare at the phone for a moment. Put it away? How? You put it away. The phone is gone. You look around. The phone really is gone. You don’t understand anything. You pat yourself down. No phone. You look at your hands. 

What do you do?

=>Get up

  


You get to your feet. You brush off anything left from sitting on the floor.

What do you do?

=>Leave room

  


You look to the exit of the room. Toriel said to stay here. But… you decide you’re curious. You use the exit and leave the room.

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter we get a little further into the ruins.

The room you enter is bright. Red leaves are laid in neat piles. A Froggit stands to your left. Next to the Froggit is a doorway. Directly across from you is another yellow star. The path continues down to your left.  
What do you do?  
=> SAVE

You walk over to the yellow star. The leaves crinkle when you step on them.  
As you reach your hand into the warmth you feel DETERMINED. A loud ringing noise then startles you. Your phone is ringing!  
You pat yourself down. The phone is still nowhere.  
What do you do?  
=> Answer the phone  


You answer the phone. Staring at it you almost miss the voice on the other side.  
“My child? This is Toriel.” You tell her hello. “You have not left the room, have you? The puzzles ahead are dangerous.” You glance guiltily around and then tell her you haven’t.  
“That is good.” She says, “I hope you are not too lonely. Be good, my child.” You both hang up. You feel even more guilty.  
You put away the phone once again. The novelty hasn’t worn off, so you pat yourself down again.  
What do you do?  
=> Go into nearby room  


You approach the room, watching the nearby Froggit wearily. But somehow you get the feeling that it won’t attack you. So instead of going into the room you approach the Froggit. The Froggit seems to greet you.  
“Ribbit ribbit.” The frog says. Somehow you get that to mean “Excuse me human.” The Froggit continues. “(I have some advice for you.)” You nod to tell it to continue. “(It’s about battling monsters.)”  
You feel like you need advice. Something tells you, you don’t. You listen to the frog anyway.  
“(If you ACT a certain way or FIGHT until they are nearly beaten, they might not want to fight you anymore.)” the Froggit tells you looking hopeful. “(Then… if they don’t want to fight you, please human, use some MERCY.)” The Froggit finishes.  
You give it a nod and it hops away looking happier.  
You now continue into the room.  
The room is very small. Near the sides is water. The only thing in the room is a pedestal in the middle of it. On top of the pedestal is a bowl filled with something.  
You step over to the bowl. There’s a note. “Take one” it says. It seems to be candy.  
What do you do?  
=> Take one  


You reach in and take a piece of candy. You roll it between your fingers. Then you stuff it in your pocket, very consciously not “putting it away”. You pat your pocket with satisfaction, feeling the candy there.  
=> Take one  


You frown, looking the bowl over. The note said one and you’ve already got one. You glance around and then shrug, reaching over and taking another piece of candy. As you’re stuffing it in your pocket with your other piece, you feel… bad.  
=> Take one  


You roll the two pieces in your pocket. Then you quickly step away from the pedestal and hurry out of the room. You leave the bowl and the rest of the candy.  
In the room you reenter you see the star once again. You go touch it to make yourself feel better.  
Then you spend a moment listening to the crinkling noise the leaves makes as you step on them.  
You hear a different noise behind you.  
You turn to see a small flying moth monster? It looks sad.  
You get pulled into an encounter.  
You carefully look over your options. If you ACT you can either console it or terrorize it.  
You decide to CHECK as always.  
  
WHIMSUN – ATK 5 DEF 0  
This monster is too sensitive to fight…  
  
Your turn used, you wait for Whimsun to attack. Whimsun… seems to give you less room to move on.  
It is your turn again. You got worked up for nothing…  
=> Spare  


You haven’t ACT’ed yet, but you still decide to spare Whimsun. You have a sort of feeling that if you did a special combination of ACT’s, Whimsun would drop GOLD, but you are also sort of aware of it involving being mean to Whimsun.  
You pick SPARE.  
You won!  
You gain nothing.  
You stare after Whimsun for moment. Then you shake your head.  
What do you do?  
=> Continue through Ruins  


You start walking.  
The next area looks empty. Something tells you to be wary of the floor.  
You examine the floor, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. The wall to the left of you has two big holes in it. They look deliberate, but they also seem a tad… small. You could probably squeeze through if you tried.  
The problem is though, that they’re sat high up in the wall. You walk over to the closest hole. If you stretch up your arms you can hold the edge of the hole. It means there is no way you can use them.  
You side-eye the floor between the holes. Then you shrug and walk over it.  
The first step nothing happens. When your foot comes for its second step down unto the floor, it starts crumbling. You reach for the other side as you fall, but you are too late.  
The fall isn’t all that long. You hit a pile of leaves and lie there dazed for a moment. You sit up and take stock of your body.  
As the fall wasn’t very far, you are unhurt. Your breath knocked out of you, but unhurt.  
You are in a small room. Two chutes are next to you. When you look up you can see the hole where you fell in. You almost feel a déjà vu.  
You get up.  
What do you do?  
=> Use right chute  


You use the right chute and climb up. You squeeze out on the other end and are now back in the room above, this time on the other side of the room. You can see the hole where you fell through to below. You back away from it, not especially wanting to fall back down. Then you continue on.  
The next room you enter has the exit blocked by spikes. On the ground in front of you is a rock and a pace in front of the rock is a white square. On the wall to the left hangs a plaque.  
You go to read the plaque, as you expect to be told to just finish the puzzle. You pause a moment. Told by whom, you ask yourself, but you gain no answers.  
“Three out of four grey rocks recommend you push them.” You nod. You’ll just need to push the rock.  
What do you do?  
=> Solve puzzle  


You turn to solve the puzzle.  
Behind you is a weird monster. Your eyes widen. The monster makes slime noises.  
Moldsmal blocks the way!  
What do you do?  
=> ACT  


You press ACT, getting the options to CHECK, IMITATE and FLIRT. You press CHECK.  
Moldsmals STATS appear.  
  
MOLDSMAL – ATK 6 DEF 0  
Stereotypical: Curvaceously attractive, but no brains...  
  
Your turn is used.  
Moldsmal burbles and pellets appear. They go for you in zigzag patterns.  
What do you do?  
=> Dodge  


You move around to dodge the pellets.  
What do you do?  
=> FLIRT  


You usually choose the ACT yourself, but something tells you this way is better. You choose FLIRT.  
You wiggle your hips. Moldsmal wiggles back. What a meaningful conversation!  
You grin a little.  
Moldsmal attacks you again, this time you dodge automatically.  
=> SPARE  


You press to spare Moldsmal.  
You won!  
You get 0 EXP and 1 gold.  
You pat yourself down, but all you have is candy in your pocket. You shrug. You will figure it out when you need the gold.  
You walk over to the rock. You survey the area. Between the rock and the white square are drag marks. You suppose you could have easily solved the puzzle without reading the plaque, but you decide to keep reading all you can.  
You push the rock. When it fits over the white square the spikes go down.  
You walk over them and into the next room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually have the next chapter ready as well, but will not post it soon. It's been hard continueing, but at last something was written… The fights takes energy so I'll be trying to not go into them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A meeting occurs. Did you look forward to it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh so... I've made some headway into the next chapter, so I feel more comfortable adding the chapter that's done. Its pretty much a rehash of how the game went, but eh. Theres a lot of dialogue that's directly from the game so sorry about that. We''ll probably have a lot more of that too, but I hope it's somewhat enjoyable anyway.  
> If you spot big mistakes, please inform me so that I can fix it :)

Everything is white for a moment. There is a lot more light in this place and you look up to find that you can’t see the ceiling. Behind you the Ruin exit falls shut.  
Everything out here is covered in snow. Trees crowd the path leading away from the Ruins. There are no footprints in the snow. You begin to feel cold.  
What do you do?  
=> Check bush

You turn confused to the left. There’s a bush. You don’t get why, but go to check it out anyway.  
It looks like a normal bush. Leaves covered in a little bit of snow. You go closer and brush away some of the snow. Something in the bush reflects the light. You take an even closer look. There’s a camera hidden between the leaves. Your eyes widen and you take a step back.  
Then you give the camera a little wave.  
What do you do?  
=> Go on path

You start going down the path. Everything is incredibly quiet. The snow makes crunching noises as your feet hits it. You’re glad you’re wearing boots.  
Your hands are getting cold so you rub them together. The quiet begins to unnerve you.  
You hear a sound.  
=> Turn around

You startle and turn around quickly, almost stumbling in your haste. There is nothing behind you.  
You look around, but the only sounds are your breathing and the squeak the snow makes as you shift your weight. Your footprints disappear in the distance. You can only just glimpse the door to the Ruins.  
You turn around again feeling paranoid and start walking.  
You come across a log lying in the middle of the road. It fills you with a sort of dread. You give it a little kick, but it’s very solid and you’re left with slightly sore toes. You step over it instead.  
You hurry on.  
A big cracking sound echoes suddenly. You whip around again, dread rising as you spy the log in little pieces. You look around wildly, but there is nothing else out of the ordinary. The only footprints are yours.  
You start walking again. You consider running, but decide against it.  
Something appears in the distance. It looks like pillars of a sort and a bridge.  
=> Turn around

You turn. You feel as if you saw a shadow, but the only footprints are still only yours. You stand still for a moment. Then you slap your cheeks lightly and continue walking towards the bridge.  
As you get closer the pillars seem more like bars of a sort. But they’re not barring anyone. The bridge is in full view and you speed up a little bit, now that you’ve got a goal in mind.  
=> Turn around

You stop. You don’t turn around. You feel a sort of pressure from behind you. Your dread is back.  
=> Turn around

You’re standing still. You hear footsteps behind you, the slow crunch of snow.  
=> Turn around

“ **H U M A N** ” a deep voice says. “don’t you know how to greet a new pal?” You blink rapidly.  
“turn around and shake my hand.”  
=> Turn around!

********

You turn. A shadowy figure stands before you, their hand stretched out toward you. They seem to be waiting.  
=> Shake his hand

You slowly reach out your hand. Theirs looks thin and as you grip their hand it feels rather… bony. As you press down you hit something soft in the center of their palm and they squeeze your fingers as well.  
“PPBBBFFFTTT” a loud fart noise sounds for several seconds. You stand gob smacked as the figure raises their head no longer clad in shadows.  
It’s a skeleton. They’re wearing a blue hoodie and black shorts. They have a large grin on their face as they watch your expression. Their eyes are small lights residing in shadowed sockets. They’re also taller than you. Somehow the most surprising thing about a literal skeleton playing a prank on you, is the fact that they’re taller than you.  
The skeleton lets go of your hand and you let them, still frozen. They chuckle.  
“heheh… the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. that one’s ALWAYS funny.” They take in your flabbergasted expression and shrugs. “can’t please ‘em all I guess.”  
“anyways… you’re a human, right? hilarious.” They grin at you. “i’m sans, sans the skeleton.”  
You introduce yourself. Sans nods at you, but there’s a weird expression on his face now. Then his face goes back to what you guess is his neutral expression.  
“i’m actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now.” He glances to the side. You worry quietly. “but… y’know…” he looks back at you and grins again. “i don’t really care about capturing anybody.”  
Your worry dissipates. You smile at him. His grin grows bigger as if you’re sharing a joke.  
“now my brother, papyrus…” You know you’re probably imagining it, but his grin turns a little mischievous. “he’s a human-hunting FANATIC.” You feel as if your heart is in your throat. “hey, actually, i think that’s him over there.” You turn to look in the way he’s pointing, feeling your face make an expression you don’t know what is. You hear chuckling behind you.  
Well glad HE’S having fun, because you’re feeling a little…-! Actually, as you categorize what you’re feeling right now, for all that you’re reacting in the ways that you’re expecting; your emotions aren’t really following? The worry that dissipated before hasn’t actually come back. You frown to yourself. Why aren’t you worried about the apparent human-hunting fanatic that you can glimpse in the distance?  
“i have an idea.” You hear Sans say behind you. You look at him. He gestures to the bridge. “go through this gate thingy.” You walk forward and attempt to do that. “yeah go right through.”  
One of the pillars goes straight through the middle of the bridge, but both sides are free.  
“my brother made the bars too wide to stop anyone.” You sort of edge between pillar and abyss and over to the other side.  
You hear Sans follow behind you. On the other side is a little shack of some sort. A feeling tells you it’s a sentry station. A little distance in front of it is a funny shaped item. It is rather large and you study it a moment. Then you can hear someone walking quickly through snow. You urgently turn to Sans, panic in your expression.  
Sans smiles a little softer at you and gestures to the item in front of the sentry station. “quickly, behind that conveniently-shaped lamp” You turn to the item, now aware that it does in fact seem to be a lamp.  
What do you do?  
=> Hide behind lamp

You quickly scamper behind the lamp, finding that when you stand still on the other side, it covers you completely. You feel safer already. Then you hear movement.  
"’sup bro.” you hear Sans say.  
“YOU KNOW WHAT"’SUP" BROTHER!” a voice, pitched higher and very much louder than Sans’, answers. “IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T RECALIBRATED YOUR PUZZLES!”  
For all that the voice is loud you don’t think it’s bad. It makes you curious.  
…  
=> Peek

You peek out from behind the lamp and take in the speaker. It’s another skeleton, but taller than Sans. It makes him very tall indeed. He’s wearing what looks like some sort of armor and a red scarf. His skull is more elongated than Sans’ and he looks irate. But you get the feeling he’s used to Sans.  
“YOU JUST HANG AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION!” the other skeleton continues his rant, “WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!?”  
“looking at this lamp, it's really cool. do you wanna look?” Sans gestures in your direction. You retreat back behind the lamp, but oddly not that afraid you’ll be spotted.  
“NO!! (for all that you weren’t all that afraid, you still heave a sigh of relief) I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!” Sans’ brother yells agitated. “WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE!?! I WANT TO BE READY!!!”  
You peek out again since it seems the other skeleton is busy ranting. You get the feeling it’s a well-worn rant.  
“I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!” the skeleton poses heroically. “THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT… RECOGNITION... I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, "FRIEND?" I WILL BATHE IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.”  
You wish him the best in your heart.  
“hmm,” Sans hums, “maybe this lamp will help you.”  
You dart back behind the lamp. You don’t wish Sans the best, right at this moment.  
But you needn’t have hid.  
“SANS!!” Papyrus almost screeches. “YOU ARE NOT HELPING!! YOU LAZYBONES!!”  
You almost giggle from behind your hand. Still, you figure it’s best not to make any sounds even if it doesn’t seem like Papyrus is going to look.  
“ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!!!”  
You peek out again. For all that Papyrus is yelling at his brother, they both seem as if it’s all just rote.  
“hey, take it easy.” Sans says, “i've gotten a ton of work done today.”  
There’s an almost expectant pause, and you see a sort of lazy glee in Sans’ expression. “a skele-ton.”  
You let a giggle slip, but there’s no need to worry about being heard, as in the same moment Papyrus shouts his brother’s name in agitation. But…  
“come on. you're smiling.” Sans points out, as Papyrus is in fact making an expression that seems to suggest a hint of a smile.  
Papyrus pouts at his brother.  
“I AM AND I HATE IT!” He stomps on the ground. “WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME... HAVE TO DO SO MUCH JUST TO GET SOME RECOGNITION...”  
“wow,” says Sans as you get ready to hold in more mirth, “sounds like you're really working yourself...  
down to the bone”  
“UGH!!!” Papyrus sounds done with Sans. “I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES... AS FOR YOUR WORK?”  
Papyrus seems to have almost the same glee in his face as Sans did. Only difference seems the degree of lazy involved.  
“PUT A LITTLE MORE, "BACKBONE" INTO IT!!”  
Papyrus starts laughing as he speeds back the way he arrived from. His laugh is very specific, as he is nyehehe’ing as he runs away. You can’t help but share his mirth.  
Sans looks after his brother for a moment, a fond look on his face.  
Then he turns towards you. You’re back behind the lamp, to pretend you were totally hiding the whole time.  
“ok,” he says, “you can come out now.”  
=> Emerge

You emerge, thinking that the word ‘emerge’ is a bit too fancy for your taste. And that now you’ve turned it around in your head for a moment; it’s practically not a real word anymore.  
You trod over to him carefully. Standing still in snow has made your feet cold.  
“you oughta get going.” Sans points out. “he might come back. and if he does...”  
Sans pauses to make that sound ominous. You think it sounds ominous and wishes he hadn’t ended it there.  
“... you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.” He finally finishes. You feel cheated of your ominous. You shake your head disappointed at him. He grins uncomfortably.  
You decide to spare him and start walking through the snow, the way Papyrus had went.  
Coming up on one of Papyrus’ footprints in the snow, you put your own foot into it. Your foot looks very small. You hear a sound. If you had to describe it, you’d say it sounded a bit like a ‘snerk’. You pause and then slowly look over at Sans. He’s not looking at you, but his grin seems more genuine than before.  
You hurriedly step out of the footprint and hurry onwards to faint sounds of amusement behind you.  
You feel embarrassed.  
“actually, hey..” Sans speaks up. You pause awkwardly and turn to listen. “hate to bother ya, but can you do me a favor?” You make an inquisitive face.  
“i was thinking…” Sans kind of shuffles in place, but manages to not look as hesitant as he actually is. “my brother’s been kind of down lately…”  
He scratches his chin. “he’s never seen a human before. and seeing you might just make his day.”  
You hesitate. “don’t worry, he’s not dangerous.” Sans adds, then he looks aside and kind of shrugs, “even if he tries to be.”  
You watch Sans a moment. He looks awkward. Then you nod and hope you won’t regret it. Sans looks surprised.  
“thanks a million. i’ll be up ahead.” Sans then starts walking. The wrong way. You look after him surprised and yet not.   
Things here are strange you consider, as you turn to go.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You see some skeletons. Let's hope you survive.
> 
> (spoiler, you do)

You’re trudging through the snow. There have been a few encounters, but you haven’t been hurt. Yet anyway, you think a little uncharitably.  
You’ve passed another SAVE point and found a pair of gloves in a box. You can see a building in the distance.  
But a while in front of that, you see two figures. One taller than the other.  
You glance at the trees, considering hiding. You are tired of fighting. But now that you watch the figures, they look to be Sans and his brother Papyrus.  
You remember your agreement with Sans and heave a sigh. Then you trudge onwards.  
Papyrus seems to spot you first. Then Sans turns and makes a show of spotting you as well. Papyrus turns to his brother to share a look. Sans then proceeds to share a look with his brother. They look back at you. Share a look. This goes on for while. You’re entertained if very confused. Then Papyrus gives a twirl and they turn away from you, presumably to have some privacy.  
“SANS!!” Papyrus says very loudly. It’s very clear you’ll be eavesdropping whether you like it or not. “OH MY GOD!! IS THAT…” He somehow makes a show of covertly gesturing in your direction. It’s not especially covert. “A HUMAN?!?!”  
They both turn to look at you. You look back, awkwardly glancing at Sans, hoping for some sort of sign. Are you supposed to do something humany?  
“uhhh…” Sans seems to scrutinize you. “actually, i think that’s a rock.” You blink stupidly for a moment, before something prompts you to look behind yourself. There is indeed… a rock. You give Sans a look to as if to ask ‘seriously?’.  
Papyrus seems disappointed and lets out an “OH”. You feel as if you never even needed the lamp.  
“hey, what’s that in front of the rock?” Sans then asks. You perk up.  
Papyrus looks back, this time definitely at you. (not that you can actually tell, considering his eyes are dark abysses to you)  
“OH MY GOD!!” He exclaims exuberantly, before asking in what passes for a lowered voice; “IS… IS THAT A HUMAN?” Sans answers “yes” and Papyrus turns to you once again.  
“OH MY GOD!!” He once more yells. You… wonder what to do. No one is telling you anything. “SANS I FINALLY DID IT!” He seems overjoyed. You feel like cheering.  
“UNDYNE WILL… I’M GONNA…” He seems to feel overwhelmed. “I’LL BE SO…POPULAR! POPULAR! POPULAR!!” Papyrus finally seems to remember he has an audience. He gives a little cough.  
“HUMAN!” He says imperiously. “YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA.” His scarf is waving heroically in the wind. You scrunch your nose a bit. What wind?  
“I, THE GREAT PAYRUS, WILL STOP YOU!” He continues, “I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU!” You feel a little uneasy now. You’re uncertain what ‘capture you’ must mean.  
“YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL” He strikes a pose. “THEN… THEN!” He pauses. Consternation crosses his face. You wonder at how expressive a skeleton can be. He finishes his thought, “I’M NOT SURE WHAT’S NEXT.” He doesn’t let this stop him it seems. “IN ANY CASE!”  
Mischievous is what you would call the next expression his face makes. “CONTINUE… ONLY IF YOU DARE!” he then runs off, once again ‘nyehehe’ing’.  
You and Sans see him run for a moment. Sans then turns to you.  
“well, that went well.” You show a doubtful face. He shrugs at you. “don’t sweat it, kid.”  
He winks at you. “i’ll keep an eyesocket out for ya.” He then also turns and walks off. You are thankful it’s the right way this time.

You continue on. And then your phone starts ringing. You are very surprised and fumble it out from wherever it goes. Is it Toriel!? You ask yourself excited, yet both doubtful and dreading.  
You answer the phone.  
“U-uhh..” a voice rings out. You can instantly hear it isn’t Toriel calling.  
“Oh my god, help.” The voice continues in a voice you can tell you aren’t meant to hear, before raising their voice again. “I’d like to order a… Um… A pizza?”  
You cringe inwardly. How embarrassing. You’re about to speak up and clear the misconception, when the voice continues. “With, uh… The toppings are, uh…” You hear them fumble around for something, paper noises coming through. The voice interrupts you again. “I have them copied, I’ll just paste them to you.” You pull the phone away from your ear for a moment to appreciate how old and big the phone you’re holding is. And how non text-receiving it is as well. It seems, instead of receiving texts, it receives them as text to voice. You discover this as the phone begins reciting, character by character, out loud, an ASCII art of an anime catgirl.  
You can almost hear the horrified silence on the other end. They hang up. You decide to pretend that that never happened.  
You continue on. This time you can uninterrupted.  
You pass… a sentry station? It seems to be shabbily constructed compared to the other station you’d seen.  
You walk over. Seems there’s something written on it. You could ignore it. You’re kind of done with things. You read it anyways.  
The text reads: ’YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION. WHO COULD HAVE BUILD THIS, YOU PONDER… I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN!’ the text stops here and there’s some more text, a teensy bit smaller and in a parentheses: ‘NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.’ You smile. It’s kind of easy to guess who made it now. You glance up at the ‘sentry station’s roof. You would feel bad for thinking it was shabbily made, but it’s hard to be of any other opinion. 

As you walk on from the sentry station you have an encounter with Snow Cap. You walk away from it with a little gold and a little colder than before.  
You can see another building coming up.  
You walk slower. A feeling is creeping up on you. Some sort of caution? You watch the new sentry station as you get closer. There’s a sign next to it. Something tells you to ignore it. You hesitate. You walk past the sign.  
You’re coming up on the sentry station. You rub your hands and watch it warily. Something moves.  
=> Don’t move

You freeze (haha…). “Did something just move??” A voice calls out. It’s rough and sort of growly. A head pokes out of the sentry station and you stare. “Was it my imagination?”  
It’s a dog. You blink. The dog squints around and then vaults over the counter of the station. It’s dressed in a pink shirt with a dog on it and leopard print pants. There are suddenly two swords in its hands.  
“If something WAS moving... For example, a human...” The dog takes a few steps in what happens to be your direction. “I'll make sure it NEVER moves again!”  
You feel threatened and your lip wobbles. Why do they always want to fight? Something in you hesitates. They always want to fight? And you can’t do anything about it? You feel that’s right. That’s how it is and always will be. But somehow you refuse. You’re filled with determination.  
=> Pet the dog

You try to  
=> Don’t move

You try  
=> Pet the dog immediately

You  
=> Fight him

You  
=> Pet  
=> Fight  
=> Pet  
=> Fight

You close your eyes. You can hear the dog breathe. You can hear yourself breathe.  
You reach forward and pet the dog.  
“WHAT!!! I'VE BEEN PET!!!” the dog says loudly. It seems excited. You pet the dog some more.  
=> Say hi

You greet the dog. The dog seems surprised. “Oh so there IS someone there.” His tail wags a little. “I can’t see you when you don’t move.” He says as if scolding you. You apologize. He seems to forgive you. He then hands you some gold. “I’ve gotta go, patrolling to do. Nice to see you!”  
You thank him and nod and wave as he leaves, making sure to make expansive movements. He seems thrilled and waves back.  
You leave the encounter feeling refreshed. There wasn’t a fight! Something in you is very surprised by the fact, but the rest of you are happy about it.

You walk for a bit and then see another silhouette up ahead. You hesitate, but walk on emboldened by your non-fight.  
You worried for nothing as you see it’s Sans. He turns to greet you.  
“hey.” He says. You smile at him. He gives you a measured smile back. “here’s something important to remember.” You try your best to look interested.  
“my brother has a very special attack.” You feel a bit uncomfortable at the mention of fighting, but keep the non-fight close to your heart. “if you see a blue attack, don’t move and it won’t hurt you.”  
Your face brightens. That actually seems like a very nice attack.  
“here’s an easy way to keep it in mind. imagine a stop sign. when you see a stop sign, you stop, right?” You nod. “stop signs are red. so imagine a blue stop sign instead.”  
You stare uncomprehendingly at Sans. His grin grows amused. “simple, right?”  
You purse your lips and give Sans a look that explains how useless you think that particular advice is. He just keeps grinning. “when fighting, think about blue stop signs.” You pout at him, but thank him for advice nonetheless.  
He waves you off.  
You walk on. Something is glinting further ahead. You can see that the road splits in two a bit further ahead.  
=> Take left path

You veer a little to the left, but your foot catches on nothing and you yelp as you fall over. The snow makes it so that you don’t feel very hurt, but you do notice that what you’re lying on is rather hard. You try to sit up. It’s harder than usual and you realize why when you put your hand down on the ground. You brush a little snow away. A hard layer of gleaming ice hides beneath.  
You cover your face with your cold hands and sit breathing for a moment feeling… tired. The gloves you’re wearing weirdly enough don’t smell of anything. Then, after a moment, something encourages you to stand up. You make the effort to be careful and stand up again, brushing away some snow from your clothes. You’re colder now, than before.  
Then you pause for a moment, before slowly looking back towards where Sans was.  
You then pretend he isn’t there. At least you can’t hear him laughing. It seems Sans has seen all your weird moments. This time was more embarrassing than before, but you resolve to keep going.  
This time you walk carefully until there isn’t any ice underfoot.  
As you clear the trees, a cliff comes up. Before the precipice a snowman stands.  
=> Greet snowman

You shrug and go greet the snowman. To your sort of, not really, you should be surprised, surprise, the snowman greets you back.  
You have a very nice conversation, when the snowman mentions that it would like to see the world. It seems wistful. Then it tentatively asks if you would mind showing it the world. You tell the snowman that you would be happy to! Then you bring up the issue of how.  
The snowman explains that you could take a piece of it with you. That way it would get to go all the places you would go. You ask about whether the snowman wouldn’t melt?  
The snowman explains that since it’s magic, it won’t melt.  
Your issues addressed you agree and carefully gather some snow off of the snowman. You put it away, wherever you can put things away.  
You part in a better mood than before.  
You pass down to the ice area again. Sans seems to have left.  
You don’t know how far the ice is spread, so you carefully make your way down the other path.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I'm on a roll. I've got a bunch of inspiration for now, so I hope to quickly write a lot while it's here.  
> It's fickle though.  
> Anyway sorry for more rehashing. And for the formatting. I don't think it looks great, but I'm not sure how to improve it.  
> Still I hope you enjoy.  
> As always, if there's any jarring mistakes I'd appreciate them being pointed out to me. Please be gentle though… I'm not a veteran.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading it. I would appreciate soft criticism, and if you notice a grammar mistake please tell me. I don't have anyone doing corrections.  
> Also if there's something wrong with the formatting I would like a heads up. I had some trouble with it, so there might be stuff I missed.


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